


the sun kissing every piece of wall as it rises

by inkwelled



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: 3+1 Things, Alternate Universe - Twins, Author's Favorite, Cuddling & Snuggling, Cute Kids, F/M, Family Fluff, Family Shenanigans, Married Life, Post-Canon, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, no regard to canon we die like men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-25
Updated: 2019-09-25
Packaged: 2020-11-02 14:27:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,239
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20773766
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inkwelled/pseuds/inkwelled
Summary: Three times Sokka is woken by his kids and the one time they let him sleep in. -a milestone fic celebrating 900 followers on twitter





	the sun kissing every piece of wall as it rises

**Author's Note:**

> i started this sO LONG AGO (it was probably barely a month ago who am i kidding stop being dramatic amy) as a milestone fic for hitting 900 followers on twitter. fast-forward and i am _so close_ to 1k that i figured it was time for me to suck it up and finish this beast. it's been slain! i am victorious and my fingers hurt. you're welcome.
> 
> title inspired by [kisses](https://hellopoetry.com/poem/3339536/kisses/) by fabiana

** i. **

"Sokka.”

He groans, burying his head deeper in his pillow. It’s just his imagination - it’s past midnight, far past the witching hour. No one is calling for him. It’s part of the dream and he's floating somewhere among pink clouds, Appa growling, the sun shining. He's perfectly content and Suki is there, laughing, her shoulder pressed to his-

"Sokkaaaa...."

A poke comes at his shoulder, once and then twice before a warm whisper tickles his ear. “Sokka. _ Sokka. _ Darling, wake up.”

“Go back to sleep,” he mumbles, surfacing long enough from sleeping to flick a hand out. It’s a lazy, slow motion and it’s caught by another hand. 

A palm presses to his. “Kairi is hungry,” his wife whispers with laughter in her voice and he drags himself upwards, eyes still closed.

His voice is slow, slurred, brain still firmly rooted in sleep. Propping himself up, only in undergarments because it's summer and it's _ hot, _he blows out a deep breath.

“You’re joking.”

Suki giggles at his bedhead, running a hand through his messy curls. He hums at the feeling, leaning into the touch like the alley cats he's seen running around Kyoshi Island and can't help but feed as his wife cards her hands through his hair. Since the war, Sokka's let his it grow out from the shaved sides and it now limply curls around his jaw whenever he doesn’t have it pulled back. Fingertips ghost through his hair, traveling to cup his cheek and scrape over his beard. 

“She wants fire flakes.”

Sokka cracks one eye open, head still in his wife's hand. “No, _ you _want fire flakes.”

“Guilty,” his wife sing-songs and presses a kiss to the scruff on his cheek before letting go of his face and sinking back into the pillows. “Can you go get some? _ Please?” _

He must still look dubious because Suki lets her bottom lip jut out, eyes growing wide. Against the pillows, surrounded the thin blankets of summer, hands cradling the bump that prevents her from doing anything more than walking, Sokka can feel his resolve turn to dust and he knows he's a sucker.

_ "Pleeeease?" _she whines and he chuckles, giving in. "Please, baby. Your daughter is hungry."

The candle on the nightstand burns low, signaling how late in the night - or how early in the morning - it is. Sokka’s never been a _technical _morning person until Suki got pregnant and she started eating for three instead of one. He hasn't _really _had a choice since - that, and the fact she's on bed rest. 

One of the midwives had confined her to the bed almost a month ago and Suki had spent a whole day sulking. 

"Katara never would've put you on bed rest if you stayed home to have the twins," Sokka had teased and she had terrorized him off the bed with threats to punch him, swollen belly carrying his kids or not, the midwife be damned_. _

(_For the record, her words exactly,_ Sokka recounts later to both Katara and the midwife, who both laugh at his extent.)

"It's still you that's hungry," Sokka groans but pulls himself out of the blankets regardless and swings his legs over the side of the bed. Yawning loudly, he pulls on loose pants and whatever shirt his exhausted-lidded eyes can find before scrubbing a hand up and down his face. "But fire flakes it is."

Suki cheers quietly, conscious of Katara sleeping next door. Sokka's younger sister had been slightly offended when she found out that Suki wanted the twins to be born on Kyoshi Island, meaning she wouldn't be the one delivering her niece and nephew. Her and her sister-in-law had reached a compromise that resulted in Katara stealing Appa from Aang - who had been visiting her and Zuko - to fly them to the Earth Kingdom island.

When he finally manages to wrestle his feet into the sandals at the side of the bed, Sokka turns to look at his wife. 

She's smiling at him softly, illuminated by the candle on the nightstand. Propped on one elbow Suki's stomach is on display, rounded largely beneath one of his shirts he stole from his father originally. 

Hakoda had laughed when Sokka confessed Suki had stolen the tunic when his father inquired about it later and told his son to keep it. "It was your mother's favorite to sleep in," he admitted and Sokka can't help but smile at the sight of Suki in the deep blue color, white thread piping along the edges.

"She would've loved her," Hakoda had murmured as they watched Suki train alongside her sister warriors, stomach already showing despite the robes she wore. Sokka had teared up and his father had put an arm around his shoulders, despite Sokka's height over him. 

Suki leans to kiss his bicep. “Thanks, sweetie,” she murmurs and Sokka turns fully on the bed to kiss her forehead. 

“If Kairi is hungry so is Koda,” he smiles, chuckling, moving down the bed to kiss the swell of her belly. A kick greets him and both of them grin. “Anything for him?”

“Mmm,” his wife hums, thinking for a moment before her face lights up. “Moon peaches.”

Sokka hangs his head with a disbelieving chuckle and kisses Suki with his next breath. “Is that all?”

“I love you.”

“I love you more,” he automatically shoots back and stands, "and I mean all three of you troublemakers.”

Suki’s smile is indulgent as he closes the door behind him and makes his way through the hut. He tiptoes past Katara's room, making sure to avoid the one creaky floorboard and slips out of the house at the end of the row.

Even at this time of night, the market is still open and he's grateful. It’s summer, after all, and Suki is due within two weeks if the midwife is to be trusted. Sokka makes a mental note to learn the midwife's name before the twins come because the woman deserves a medal for putting up with her - well, _them _.

Torches line the street and he yawns, trying to hide the noise behind his hand. Someone laughs. “Cravings again?”

“Yeah,” he mutters, plopping down the change purse at the stand he’s visited almost every other night for a week now. The vendor, whose name he doesn't know either, smiles as he counts moon peaches into a basket. 

“She's due any day now, right?”

“Right,” Sokka says and clamps down the next yawn between his teeth. He rests his head on his hands folded on the tabletop and the vendor sets down the basket. 

“Four copper pieces, please.”

Mechanically he places the pieces down and wanders to the next stand. The woman running the stand chuckles at his disheveled appearance and adds a pouch of fire flakes to his haul. 

“No need,” she says smiling when he tries to pay her. “Just make sure Suki doesn’t eat too many, you hear?”

“As if I'd be able to stop her,” Sokka laughs and the woman shakes her head. 

“See you soon.”

Sokka wanders back through town and barely makes it into their room before he’s kicking off his sandals, plopping the basket down onto the bed and falling face-first into the covers. 

Suki giggles. “Hello to you too. The twins thank you.”

He turns his head to the side to level his sleepy gaze with her stomach. Just barely discernable is the movement inside, the press of a heel against the swell of her swollen and stretched skin. Poking at it, he turns down his face in mock-seriousness as if the twins could see it. “Tell them to settle down in there or I'm coming in to get them.”

“Good luck with that,” Suki smiles and kisses his forehead. "They're just eager to meet their father."

"I'm just as eager to meet them," Sokka smiles and the reminder that his wife is going to give birth to their _ kids _hits him like a flying bison. He can't believe sometimes he forgets that in a few weeks, he'll hold them in his arms instead of just pressing his hand to wherever they kick or punch. "Need me to slice them?"

Through a mouthful of fire flakes, Suki shakes her head. "Nah, I got it."

"Let me."

His wife watches him reach for the pocket knife in the nightstand drawer and chuckles as he expertly starts slicing into the pale Earth Kingdom imported fruit. "You're getting good at that. Probably could do it in your sleep."

"I'm half-asleep still so you're half-correct," Sokka chuckles and after sliding the blade under the skin, hands his wife the first slice. "I was told not to let you eat too many fire flakes at once."

"Try to stop me," the Kyoshi Warrior dares him and another handful disappears.

He chortles. "I knew you'd say that."

They stay like that, Sokka feeding Suki thin slices of moon peaches without the skin until his fingers are sticky with the juices and Suki yawns. Sokka's eyes soften in the candlelight.

"Time for bed, darling."

"I'm not tired," his wife says stubbornly even as she smothers a yawn. Sokka smiles.

"Sure."

Later they're in bed, Sokka's head on Suki's chest and a hand pressed to the top of her stomach when she kisses his head. "Thank you."

"Love you," he slurs, half-asleep and Suki's chest rumbles with laughter.

"Love you, too."

** ii. **

Lightning flashes, casting shadows across the bedroom floor and the door creaks open as he stirs. Small feet pad across the hardwood and a finger pokes at Sokka's cheek.

"Daddy?"

"'Ri?"

An eye cracks open and Kairi hugs her stuffed lemur close to her chest. "Can I sleep with you?"

Sokka's head lifts and he sees the tears in her eyes, the clutch of the toy to her chest. His heart tightens in his chest and he nods immediately, instantly awake, scooting over on the bed. 

"Come here, baby."

Kairi climbs into bed and he lifts the blankets so she can slip beneath them. Her right thumb finds its way into her mouth as her dad's strong, warm arms slip around her.

Being in her daddy's arms is Kairi's favorite place to be.

"What's wrong?"

There's a rumble of thunder and she winces, curling closer to Sokka's chest, quivering. He hugs his little girl closer, hand rubbing at her back. "You had a nightmare didn't you," he murmurs and Kai nods.

He closes his eyes and hugs her closer. 

"I'm sorry, Kai. Do you need some warm milk?"

She nods frantically and can hear her father's smile in his voice. "Alright. Be quiet so Mommy can stay asleep, okay?"

When he sits up she makes grabby hands at him. Chuckling, Sokka hoists the three-year-old into his arms and holding a finger to his lips, slips from the room after replacing the covers over Suki.

"Is Koda asleep?"

Curled up in his arms, Kairi nods. Her ear is pressed to his chest, right above his heart and Sokka holds her tight as he walks down the hall. A quick peek into the twins' room confirms Kai's words as Koda is face-down, butt in the air, snoring.

Sokka snickers at the sight. When they make it to the kitchen he tries to set down the little girl in his arms so he can turn on the light but Kai won't let go. Shrugging instead, he transfers her to one arm and opens the icebox.

"I used to have nightmares," he confesses quietly as he pours the milk into the kettle and sets it on the stove. "Really bad ones, too. So did Mommy."

"Why?"

Kai's thumb has finally made it out of between her lips and Sokka smiles to himself. Progress, _ however slow it may be, _ is still progress.

"You know how you get scared by lightning?" Kai nods and Sokka puts the milk back into the icebox before pulling out the spices to put in the milk. "Well, Mommy and I get scared by thunderstorms sometimes, too."

Kai pulls back to look up at him. "Really?"

Sokka nods. 

"Yeah, that's why it's okay for you to be afraid of storms. Mommy and I both are. It's alright to be scared."

The little girl's face screws up for a moment before she seems to be content and snuggles back into his chest. Suddenly Sokka is glad he's slept shirtless because Kairi's cheek is pressed to his chest and he can feel the warmth radiating off his daughter.

Suki had mentioned to him once, when Kai was a baby, that his heartbeat seemed to calm her. After that, when she screamed bloody murder and they'd tried everything else, Sokka would pick her up. Laying down, he would position her so her ear pressed to his bare chest and she would fall asleep within minutes, thumb in her mouth, almost smiling.

"What a Daddy's girl," Suki had chuckled and kissed his head before going to get Koda, who had begun fussing.

For all their differences, both Koda and Kairi cried when they were apart too long as babies - to the point that most nights, Suki surrendered to putting them in the same crib. 

The next morning they had woken to find Kairi holding her baby brother (by ten minutes, mind you, but a _very important _ten minutes) by the pinky, their fingers locked together even in sleep.

Sokka had never been fantastic at art but he'd sent that sketch to any person he could think of and it still hangs in his and Suki's room.

Even three years later, the feeling makes his chest warm from the inside out. He thought he would be used to it, by now, the fuzzy feeling in his throat whenever one of the twins did_ anything _really but everything they do still rocks his world.

He's thoroughly whipped for Kai and Koda and knows Suki is, as well.

Kai pats his chest. "It's okay to be scared," she whispers. "Daddy's okay."

"Kairi's okay," he murmurs back and hugs her tight to his chest. A low whine starts and he pulls back to press a kiss to her forehead before pulling the milk off the stove. Suki has a class to train in the morning and he's doing his best not to wake her.

He learned his lesson the hard way - Sokka only made the mistake of waking his wife before daybreak once. He swore he never would again and Suki had agreed.

"I gotta put you down, baby," he says. 

With a pout, Kai loosens her arms around his broad shoulders enough so Sokka can set her down on the counter. Suki had taught him this ritual, a drink she used to drink on Kyoshi on late nights and it's translated itself to post-nightmare comforting sessions with the twins. A pinch of cinnamon, cloves, and cardamon finds its way into the two mugs Sokka pours the milk into. Kai watches interestingly as he retrieves the honeypot out of the cupboard and drops some into each cup, stirring it a few times before sticking his pinky in.

"All good," he smiles and hands the three-year-old one mug while he takes the other. Seated on the counter, Kairi holds the porcelain cup in two hands and drinks deeply.

She brings it away from her lips with a deep breath and Sokka chuckles at the milk that coats her top lip. "We match," he laughs and points to his mustache, surely covered in its own milk. Kai giggles, the sound muffled by another sip.

"Daddy?"

Sokka turns and in the hallway stands Koda, one fist wiping at his eyes, the other clutched around the forest green and ocean blue blanket that's been his security item since birth. He remembers Katara's secret mission for the two months leading up to the twins' birth and presenting each newborn with one - two-sided blankets, one side a rich dark azure color, the other a silky and smoky green, brilliant white thread crisscrossed with gold.

The Earth Kingdom and the Southern Water Tribe.

He'd blamed his tears on the first time he got to hold his kids but Sokka had cried when Katara pulled them from her satchel. Expertly wrapping each twin, she had swaddled them both in the colors of their parents and both Kairi and Koda haven't let the blankets been out of their sight since.

Suki jokes she doubts they could sleep without them but neither one is eager to test the theory. 

"Hey buddy," he shushes and holds out his arms. Koda all but toddles into them and he lifts the little boy. Still sleepy, his son rubs at his eyes with a clenched fist.

Kai watches them carefully. "Scary dream?"

Her little brother nods and Kai holds out her mug after a visible moment of deliberation - her nose always scrunches up when she thinks hard about something. It's so similar to his wife that Sokka's heart almost bursts at the sight.

He chuckles. "It's okay, darling, I can make more. But thank you for sharing."

Kairi nods, smiling to herself and Sokka plops Koda down on the counter too as he roots for the ingredients over again. There's a rumble of thunder that shakes the roof for a moment and Koda squeals, burying his head in his blanket.

When Sokka turns, a reassurance already half tumbling from his lips, his daughter has already come to his rescue, wrapping her arm around Koda. For not the first time, Sokka knows he loves his family more than anything in the entire world.

The light flips on. They all turn and in the doorway stands Suki, smiling, arms crossed, hair ruffled. "I thought I heard voices. What're my little warriors up to?"

_ Storms. Bad dreams, _Sokka mouths and Suki's eyes spark with understanding. She comes to kiss his cheek before scooping up Koda, who still has his head buried in the blanket.

Suki kisses his nose before looking at Kairi. "You okay, baby?"

Kai nods. She holds out her mug so her mother can see the spices swirling in the bottom.

"Daddy made warm milk."

"Oh, my favorite," Suki smiles and leans forward. "May I have some?"

"I'm making more, greedy turtleduck."

His wife sticks out her tongue at Sokka playfully as another rumble thunder echoes in the distance. The storm is moving by, then. "Then hurry up or this hungry turtleduck will gobble you up."

She pretends to nip at him with a short honk. Chuckling, Sokka twists around to hug her instead, Koda pressed between them. 

The storm passes and no hungry turtleducks eat anyone. When their eyes start to droop, Suki and Sokka smile at each other over little heads covered in dark auburn hair and they trade the mugs in their hands for sleepy toddlers.

Suki lays Kairi down softly, her hand slipping behind the little girl's head to ensure a safe transfer as Sokka draws a blanket up over Koda's chest. Already their breaths are evening out and becoming deeper, signaling that the warm milk has done its magic.

"They're getting so _big_," he whispers as he wraps his arms around his wife's waist. Suki hums quietly.

"Don't tell Kairi that or she'll get a big head."

Sokka chuckles, pressing a kiss to the top of her shoulder. "Do you think they'll be alright for the night or should we let them sleep with us?"

"You're so soft with them," Suki chides but she's smiling when she turns in his embrace. Her starflower eyes - the same ones both twins have - gleam in the moonlight that's emerged since the storm's passing. All that's left behind now is the pitter-patter of raindrops off the side of the house and the quiet that proceeds the cacophony of the rain. "I think they'll be okay but if they climb into bed with us you know I'll let them."

Two hours later the bed jostles slightly and a small face accompanied by warm breath press into his collarbone. Smiling to himself, he wraps his arms around the small body and rolls over.

Sleep is easy when he's surrounded by his family.

** iii. **

He should be used to this by now, honestly.

To be fair, Sokka didn't think when he promised Koda he would help him with his sword-fighting training the next morning that the six-year-old would take _morning _to mean _sunrise. _The sun is barely painting the sky purple to pink when a small weight drapes itself across his chest and Sokka comes to with a start.

The grinning face of his youngest comes into view, a gap when he smiles that used to be inhabited by his front teeth. Now there's only gum and the tiniest bit of white peeking through the top when Suki _really _looks for it.

"Dad! Get _up!"_

Sokka considers hauling Koda back into bed with him. He knows how warm he is and how it can lull even the most hyperactive twins into a mellow napping mood but there's a twinkle in Koda's eyes. Suddenly, Sokka understands he will get no more sleep this morning.

It's his fault for not clarifying. He knows how literal Koda is, especially at this age. Gran-Gran had laughed when she received his messenger hawk lamenting the newest stage of the twins' personalities and sent back he was the same way; just it never _stopped. _

Suki had laughed herself into a fit and Sokka made her promise never to tell anyone else.

"Go back to bed, please," he grouses, half-pleading, but little fingers peel open his eyelids when he closes them again and rolls over so Sokka is up. Shushing Koda's happy little squeals when he manages to sit up and find a shirt - Suki still isn't a morning person and he doesn't want to spend the weekend on the couch - Sokka drags himself into the kitchen.

The scrambled eggs he manages to make without disturbing either Kairi or his wife are wolfed down by Koda within a minute. He bounces for the door. "C'mon! Let's go!"

"Shh!" Sokka says but he's smiling, half-laughing, grabbing his sheath from its place by the door. There's another in the bedroom and beside it is Suki's fans, glimmering gold and still as deadly as the day he met her. "We don't wanna wake your mom, little man."

"Or Kairi."

He ruffles the mop of dark auburn hair on his son's head and laughs at his resulting whine as he closes the door behind them. "Yeah, or your sister."

It's a balmy summer morning on Kyoshi Island - they always spend part of their summers here - and Koda all but bounces down the path to the training building at the end of the road. There's no war anymore but Suki and he agreed they would teach their kids to defend themselves. Accidently bending a wave into his sister's face during a fight in the kitchen the year before had revealed Koda as a waterbender - much to Katara's delight - but Sokka still left the opportunity open for his son to learn sword fighting.

The little boy jumped at it.

When they reach the building, the sky is a vibrant purple and red, streaking across clouds like the facepaint both Kairi and Suki love so much. Sokka smiles to himself as Koda all but runs to the rack on the wall. "I'm ready!"

"Slow down!" He chuckles and takes the wooden sword from his son's hand, laying it against the wall. "There's more to sword fighting than to swinging around a weapon. You have a lot to learn before you're ready for that."

Koda pouts for a second before he's all but jumping in place. "Okay! What's first?"

A smile seems permanently fixed to Sokka's face but he can't help it. When he unsheathes his space earth - _meteorite,_ Katara insists on calling it - sword Koda's eyes go wide.

Sokka beckons him back. "Watch me, buddy. Before you start sword-fighting you have to understand the sword is an extension of your body. Like a second head or an extra-long, sharp arm."

The six-year-old sits on the floor, crossing his legs, eyes wide. Sokka watches how Koda's eyes follow the path of his sword, swiping through the air, very much part of his arm and body. For a moment Sokka can see himself in his son's expression; he's in a small town in the Fire Nation, kneeling before a renowned swordmaster, he's learning. He's standing in front of a furnace, his shoulders burning with the effort of shoveling coal into the flames to melt the rock into a sword. Piandao is standing over him, presenting him with the blade, complimenting him, Sokka is confessing to a lie. He's learning - Piandao sheathes his sword and says he knew Sokka was Water Tribe the entire time.

Piandao bows to him. Sokka bows back. Koda's eyes shine excitedly.

"_Now _is it time, Daddy?"

Sokka chuckles. "Not yet. First, acquaint yourself with your surroundings. See everything around you - a good swordfighter uses his environment to his advantage. Memorize."

Nodding, Koda looks around the large building. The birds have started chirping and he can hear the voices of the other inhabitants of Kyoshi Island rising for the day, opening their shutters, greeting each other and the new morning. Yellow sunshine falls across the floorboards Koda explores bare-footed and Sokka watches his every movement.

Though his youngest is a waterbender the way he moves is all earthbender. Where Kairi is light on her feet, floating like her practice fans Suki gifted her when she turned six, Koda is grounded. Steady. The way he moves assures he knows where his feet land; he trusts the earth beneath his feet first and the water between his fingers second.

_ This one's mine now, _ Toph had declared when she visited during one summer and Lin had shrieked with laughter when Sokka's jaw dropped. _I like him. _

That, of course, meant Kairi insisted _she _become Toph's kid, too, and Suki had spent the afternoon laughing from her place on the sand sunbathing. Toph had waved off his invitation to build sandcastles with the kids and he had watched from Suki's side on the blanket as Toph taught Koda stances.

"I think I got it!" Koda proclaims and Sokka nods. 

"Are you sure?"

Koda's nose scrunches up, the skin between his eyebrows creasing - so much like Katara's when she's thinking - before nodding self-assuredly. "Yep! Now what?"

"Draw it," Sokka says simply. Koda's face screws up.

"What?"

He leads his son outside and sits him down on the porch. He produces a piece of parchment and a brush set from his pocket and sets it down. "Draw it. This is the first step to becoming a swordfighter. Do your best."

Koda smiles and picks up the brush, dunking it in ink. There's the slightest hesitation before the bristles touch the parchment but then Koda's humming, his tongue sticking out ever-so-slightly from between his lips and the brush is making confident strokes on the page. Although Piandao didn't watch him, facing away as Sokka tried to capture the valley, he finds he can't look away from his son's face.

Even just in the curve of his nose, Sokka can see so much of his wife. While both twins got Suki's auburn hair and silver-gray eyes, Koda's hair is a twinge darker while his sisters' is redder. The slope of his forehead leading to the slightest hooked nose is all Suki but his chin is softer, rounder, less angular. Sokka's chin. Koda's skin is a few shades lighter than Kairi's even in the summer sun and dotted with freckles that Sokka knows cover Suki's stomach.

They're his favorite part of his wife to kiss, after all. 

"Done!" Koda announces and holds up the parchment. Sokka nods, slotting his hand under his chin and pretending to focus closely on the art piece, causing his son to giggle. 

He nods seriously. "Your attention to detail is stunning. Who's that?"

Koda follows his finger to the two blobs in the center of the hurriedly-but-no-less-lovingly drawn training building. His face brights. "It's us, Daddy! Duh."

"Oh, duh," Sokka chuckles and pulls him into a hug, pressing his knuckles into Koda's mop of dark hair. Squealing in protest as his father peppers his baby-fat-rounded cheeks with kisses, Koda squirms but Sokka holds him close. "I should've known that. Where's your mom and sister?"

"It's just us," Koda explains before his face falls a bit. "Is that okay?"

"Of course it is, baby," Sokka soothes and presses a kiss to the crown of his head. "Just tell Mommy that when you get home. I'm putting this on the wall!"

The toothy smile is back, still missing the front two teeth, and Koda wiggles from his arms to jump up. "Can I get a sword now?"

"A sword, huh?"

Sokka looks up into the face of his wife, red lips smirking. There's a lid to her red-painted eyes as she smiles and Koda's face splits into a smile. "Mommy!"

"Hi baby," she laughs and hoists him into her arms, kissing his forehead quickly as not to smudge her makeup. "Ri and I missed you both this morning but I figured you were out here."

Sokka chuckles, standing, Koda's portrait in hand. "Sorry about that, darling. We wanted to get out before your training."

Even though she no longer lives on Kyoshi Island year-round, whenever they spend part of their summers here rather in Republic City or in the South Tribe Suki always takes up training the next generation of warriors. Even all these years later, quickly approaching mid-thirties and post-carrying the twins, she's still as nimble and quick as she was when he landed on her island. 

He loves watching her spar.

Squinting at the sky, he takes Koda back. "I think we'll have to find sometime or somewhere else to train; it's Mommy's turn now."

His son pouts for a second but Koda's never been one to stay one emotion longer than ten minutes. Even as a baby, his fits only lasted minutes before he would pass out - a stunning contrast to his sister, who can hold onto grudges for impressive amounts of time.

Suki laughs their daughter gets it from her. Sokka will never agree - he knows when to keep his mouth shut, thank you - but concedes silently.

With a quick cheek kiss to both of her boys, Suki waves to them as they walk away and warriors start to pour into the building. Kairi wasn't with them, so Sokka supposes she's out playing with the other kids who aren't old enough for this early-morning training (Suki trains the older warriors in the morning and the younger ones after lunch) and hoists Koda higher on his hip.

"Where should we hang this?"

His son's face screws up for a minute before he's smiling. "Above Kai's bed! She's gonna love this."

"I bet she will," Sokka smiles back and lets the wiggling boy down. Hand-in-hand, they walk down the path and he waves to the adult warriors he recognizes from all the years coming here. Although Ty Lee isn't up yet, he knows she'll seek him out later and insist on piggy-backing the twins around. "What should we have for breakfast? Since Mommy and Kairi ate without us."

Koda babbles on about toast and eggs and Sokka soaks in the summer sun as they walk. It's rapidly approaching the time when the morning dew will disappear from the grass and for now, the sun is warm instead of hot against his skin. Kairi greets them happily from the porch when they get home and his older sister fawns over Koda's painting as Sokka cracks three eggs into a cast iron pan.

The radio crackles pleasantly in the background and Sokka smiles when Kairi scrambles down from her chair. "Let's go hang in it in our room!"

Both twins run down the hall and he shakes his head, still smiling. In a few hours, Suki will come through the door and he'll kiss her face until white is smeared over his cheeks and his wife's laughter rings like a bell through their house. They'll sit down to eat lunch and Koda will throw pieces of moon peaches - his favorite - into Kairi's waiting mouth across the table.

He wouldn't ask for anything more.

** +i. **

The first thing he registers is the beam of sunlight that's falling across his face, dying the black behind his eyelids a pleasant yet odd orange-green. Groaning, Sokka buries his face in the pillow and turns over before freezing.

_ Sunlight. _

He slept in.

Sokka can count on one hand the times he's slept in since the twins were born. Even though both are rapidly approaching ten - the summer solstice isn't far away - Kairi and Koda still have the innate ability to tell whenever the sun is about to rise and manage to rouse them. All things considered, Sokka should be used to rising with the sun.

Ironic.

Zuko laughed at him last time he and Katara came to visit. The Fire Nation ship had been spotted almost a mile away and the entire family had been down at the docks when it sailed into shore. Katara had been first off the ramp, throwing her arms around Suki - to which Sokka grumbled at ("_You're MY sister first." "Shut up, Sokka, she's _my _sister too.") _\- but had accepted Zuko's hug right before his nieces barreled into him.

The two oldest Fire Nation princesses had all but run him over with excitement and Sokka had laughed heartily as they swarmed them. Zuko's soft chastising had been tempered by Suki's giggling as she drew her brother-in-law into a hug and asked him how the Fire Nation was treating them. Sokka hadn't heard the response but saw how Katara linked her and Zuko's arms and the couple had made their way up the beach, both looking taller and freer without their crowns, in colors other than burgundy - and in Katara's case, burgundy and navy.

Huilang and Amira had hung off his arms as they made their way back to the house, giggling the entire way as Koda and Kairi attached themselves to their mother and initiated a race to see who could get back home first. Unsurprisingly, Suki had won and Katara had laughed herself sick.

From her place perched on her mother's place, Shui had sucked her thumb and waved silently to Sokka when he shot her a smile. It hadn't been much - he could see the worried look in Zuko's eyes whenever he looked at his third daughter and the crease in Katara's smile that looked a little thin - but he took it. Although it wasn't commonly known, the entire extended Team Avatar knew the complications with Shui's birth and how she refused to leave Katara's side most of the time; which her mother had no problem with.

_ "Kairi!" _

A shriek in the kitchen pulls his attention back the present and Sokka lifts his head from the pillow warily. It's a laughing sound, nothing to let his instincts interpret as something fearful but even all these years later, he's on edge whenever one of the twins screams. He's getting better; as is Suki and he's contemplating turning over and going back to bed, snuggling into his wife's back when he realizes the bed is empty.

Sokka blinks.

"Baby?" he murmurs but there's no answer. He groans lowly and when his fingers ghost over the sheets there's a lingering warmth there that tells him that while Suki is up, she hasn't been for long.

Another pealing laughter comes from the kitchen and his chest rises like the sun at the sound. He knows both his children by their laughter; Kairi's chuckle so different from Koda's giggles, as independent and diverse as their personalities but still music to his ears when together. It's with a smile that Sokka pulls himself from bed and then he's throwing on a shirt, padding down the hallway and into the kitchen.

The sight makes him stop and his entire heart bursts. Leaning against the frame of the door, Sokka watches his little family cook breakfast.

Although Suki is facing away from him, he can still see how her hair is wild, rumpled with sleep as she leans over the stove. The smell of bacon and eggs reaches his nose and by her side, Kairi stirs the rice in its pot. On the counter sits Koda, swinging his feet as he eats blueberries from his fist and the radio chatters in the background. Sunlight slants from the windows and falls across the floor, turning it to pure light that Suki dances across when she reaches for the soy sauce and Sokka realizes with a start they're making breakfast fried rice.

His favorite.

Four bowls are laid out on the counter around Koda and she spoons rice into each and when she turns her head Sokka can see the indulgent, sleepy smile on his wife's face. Dressed in nothing but one of his tunics that falls past her thighs, Suki's socked feet that would usually be pressing into his shins right now make her steps creak against the wooden floors. 

On the stovetop, the fried eggs pop and sizzle and Kairi flawlessly transfers the bacon onto a plate to cool before it's added to the rice. The radio changes songs and Sokka can't watch idle anymore. There's a hazy glow to the room and he wants to live in this moment forever.

Koda sees him in the doorway and Sokka holds a finger to his lips, already smiling. The nine-year-old shoves another few blueberries into his mouth to avoid laughing as his father sneaks up on his mother.

The second before his arms wrap around Suki's waist she hums. "You're still awful at sneaking around, darling."

Laughing, he presses his forehead into her shoulder as Koda bursts into giggles. Turning from where she's breaking the bacon into pieces, Kairi catches sight of him. Steam rises from the bowls of rice as his daughter's face lights up despite the slight downturn of her mouth and she stomps her foot authoritatively. 

"Daddy! You were supposed to stay in bed! We were gonna bring it to you."

Suki's laughter shakes her shoulders. Pressing a kiss to his wife's neck where the shirt slips down just enough, he tousles Kairi's hair with his knuckles. "I may be bad at stealth but so are my warriors! You guys kept laughing."

"Oops," Kairi giggles and Koda all but wheezes on the counterpart. The water in the pot with the sauce rises and falls with his intakes of breath, mixed with chuckles, and his cheeks hurt from smiling so much.

"Should I go back to bed?"

"Yes!" All three just about shout and Suki's hands hurry him back to the hallway. In the doorway of their bedroom he manages to twist around and capture her lips and his wife smiles into the kiss. 

She steps back, a little breathless a second later. "Now to bed with you, mister," she laughs and leans in to peck his lips once more. 

Mock-saluting, Sokka climbs back under the blankets. He makes a show of arranging them around his legs. Stretching his arms, he yawns exaggeratingly wide and Suki shakes her head at his antics and lingers in the doorway until she's sure he's not going anywhere.

His wife points at him, failing to look serious. 

"Stay."

"Yes ma'am," he says with a goofy grin and snuggles back into the blankets, closing his eyes. The creaking of the floorboards tells him she's gone back to the kitchen and he curls up against the sheets.

He must actually fall asleep because the next he knows there's whispering by his side before two bodies slam into his, knocking him breathless. Although he's momentarily lost the ability to use his lungs, Sokka draws the laughing twins under each arm, wheezing at how they giggle and squirm. 

"Daddy! Let me go!"

"Get offffffff!"

"I have not eaten breakfast!" he roars. "I am hungry, so hungry..."

"No!" shrieks Koda with a wide grin as Sokka pretends to bite at his stomach. "Not me! Kairi!"

His older sister is nearly crying with laughter. "Daddy no!" she squeals, kicking out her feet as she manages to wiggle herself from his arms. Sokka catches one foot in one hand as she escapes and puts his mouth against the arch, puffing his cheeks out.

"I'll save you!" Suki cries as she sweeps into the room, setting the tray in her arms on the nightstand. Kairi reaches for her mother and the ex-Kyoshi Warrior swoops in and grabs her daughter. Still in his father's clutches, wiggling as Sokka blows raspberries into his stomach, Koda reaches for his mother, too. 

"Mommy! Help!"

"Stop eating our children," Suki laughs, "we have your favorite for you, darling."

Sokka pauses where he's about to blow another wet kiss into his son's stomach. "My favorite? Better than the taste of a waterbender?"

"I should hope so, Kairi and I made it."

After a moment of pretending to mull it over, Sokka releases his son and the little boy goes scrambling. Laughing, he watches his son snuggle into his mother's side like he's two again and not almost ten. "I wasn't actually going to eat you, buddy," he chuckles and Koda sticks out his tongue but he's smiling.

They all settle down after that. Bowls are passed around and the moment before Sokka digs in, he inhales the scent of fried rice topped with a fried egg (his unabashed favorite) and watches his family dig into the dish.

Rice will get on the covers and they'll build a pillow fort with the blankets before they throw them into the wash and hanging them to dry. Koda will laugh so hard soy sauce will get onto his shirt and Kairi will make _eww! _-ing noises as they all descend into chuckles. Suki's leg will press against his as they eat, watching their children poke at each other, and she'll smile at him.

He'll smile back.

When they're done Kairi and Koda go running off to get changed for the day and Sokka stacks the dirty bowls on the tray as Suki strips the bed. He'll balance the tray with one hand and kiss his wife with the other as she passes him in the doorway and even though they'll be a bundle of sheets in her arms, she'll kiss him as deeply as the day they were married.

"Thank you," he murmurs when she lowers herself ever-so-slightly from her tiptoes. "I love you."

Suki's smile will light up his chest in ways the sun could only hope to. He's found only a few things can make his heart warm like this and her lips tilting into the crooked smile he loves so much is one of them - the other is Kairi and Koda's laughter, which drifts down the hall.

"I love you, too," she whispers. "All of you."

The sun rises and sets. Sokka falls asleep with his foot hooked around his wife's ankle, his arm extending past the two warm bodies between them, already sound asleep. Kairi's face is pressed into his neck, breathing steady and warm as Koda snores slightly on his back. 

Suki will smile at him one last time before she lets her eyes drift closed and Sokka will hold his little family close through the night.

**Author's Note:**

> i know the 3+1 fic format is usually ended with an angsty setting but i just COULDN'T DO IT so i wrote fluff instead. lately i've lowkey been really into writing fluff instead of angst so there's that but like?? y'all seem to be enjoying it and i'm longer yelled at on twitter (@ harraiing).
> 
> if you caught it, you caught it! in this fic i mentioned an upcoming fic that i don't have the release date to but am plugging away at. ;) kudos to you if you caught it. i would love a review if you liked this, see you next time!


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